[at-l] What's in your first aid kit?

[shane@theplacewithnoname.com (Shane Steinkamp)]

> I heard that super glue was developed during the
> Vietnam war specifically to seal wounds. Urban legend?

If I have my facts straight, it was developed in 1959 by
accident.  Some scientist glued his fingers together with an
experimental compound, and decided that it made a pretty
good glue.  After using a different base with an alcohol
that had a longer polymer chain, toxicity was reduced to a
'safe' level, and thereafter became a surgical glue.  It was
used in Vietnam by medics in an aerosol form to hold wounds
together until men could be brought to a field hospital for
treatment.  It is widely in use in Canada and Europe for
such a purpose, and in the U.S. to a lesser degree.

Shane